


First Kiss

by EmJ93



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: F/M, Spoilers for Aloth's Romance Trigger Conversation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 02:51:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16652875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmJ93/pseuds/EmJ93
Summary: After years of pining for him, Ariela finally takes the plunge and kisses Aloth. And it is wonderful.





	First Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Another import from tumblr of something I was fairly happy with. You can find me as @Ariela-of-Aedyr over there if you want to learn more about my Watcher, or just gush about Aloth (or PoE in general) with me.

She was kissing him before she even finished considering that she might like to. After years of fantasizing about that very thing, he was there; standing in front of her with a genuinely relaxed smile, hinting that he might actually feel the same way about her that she did about him; and before the thought had even finished crossing her mind, her lips were on his. Her kiss was soft, but insistent, trying to communicate all of the emotions inside of her in a way she hadn’t yet managed to in words, but she felt him tense under her touch. He was caught off guard, perhaps, by her sudden intimacy, or maybe she had misread the situation, but either way she began to pull back, horrified that she might have overstepped her bounds, or have made him uncomfortable. But before she was even able to break the kiss, she felt an arm wrap around her waist, hesitant but most certainly there, pulling her in closer, and his body relaxed against her.

She parted her lips, and he followed suit, the two of them slowly giving more of themselves to each other, bit by bit, in a show of comfort and love. He tasted of the mead they’d had with lunch a couple of hours before, and she realised then that no honey she’d ever had in her life could compare to the sweetness and satisfaction of this particular moment. She hoped that she would remember this for the rest of her life; the warmth of his body enveloping her, the softness of his hair beneath her fingers, the taste of his lips that was better than any dessert. It was certainly better than anything that might have sprung from her imagination during her time alone over the last few years. He was here. He was real. He was kissing her.

They pulled back from one another, and she felt a stupid smile creeping across her face, instantly betraying any attempt at calm that she might have been going to project. Slowly and reluctantly, she removed her fingers from his hair, stepping back to leave a respectable distance between them as her eyes scanned across his face, before finally meeting his gaze. His face was flushed; that adorable pink blush spread across his cheeks, reaching right up to the tips of his ears, and she felt her smile widen. Behind his cool blue eyes she could see that his mind was whirring. Always overthinking everything. She wished he wouldn’t be so hard on himself.

“Well, that was… unexpected.” He remarked, after a brief moment. She began to apologise, her own cheeks flushing with embarrassment, until he cut her off, stumbling over his words in a rush to add; “But not unwelcome!”

“Was that… it wasn’t too much, was it?” She queried, carefully, resisting the urge to reach out and fix his hair. She wanted to respect his personal space, at least until she knew where they stood with one another.

“No! Not at all.” His response was sudden, perhaps a little too loud, and she giggled as he attempted to regain his composure. When was the last time that she’d  _giggled_ , she wondered? Certainly not since she’d left Aedyr. She wished that she had the words to communicate to him just how he made her feel. The way that being around him lifted the weight of the world from her shoulders, or that his smile never failed to make her heart skip a beat. She’d always been so good with words, and yet she couldn’t figure out how to form these ones.

He slowly reached out for her hands, and she took his without a second thought, squeezing gently, her eyes still fixed on his.

“I’ve always been solitary by nature.” He began again. “But it’s been a relief to let my guard down with you.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” She smiled. She hadn’t missed the slight frown playing on his face, but she’d already asked for so much from him in the last few minutes, and she wasn’t sure whether it was right of her to push him into talking about it if he didn’t want to. “I’ve always wanted to be someone you could relax around, I’m honored that you would consider me so.”

“Then I hope you understand where I’m coming from.” The seriousness of his tone was like a bucket of ice water being thrown over her. Her smile faltered for a moment, until she fixed it back in place, clinging tightly to his hands and desperately hoping that he wasn’t about to attempt to let her down easy. She wasn’t sure that there even was a way that he could reject her right now that wouldn’t completely break her heart. “I’ve spent most of my life hiding parts of myself from everyone else. I’m… not sure that I know another way, Ariela." 

"You don’t have change anything about yourself, darling.” She let out the briefest sigh of relief.  _This_  she could deal with. “I love you exactly the way you are. I always have. And I don’t want anything more from you than you’re willing to give me. Whatever that might be will be enough for me.”

“You say that now, but…”

She leaned forward, brushing a gentle kiss against his cheek, and she sensed some of the worry leave him. “I say it and I mean it. You may not see it, but I always have: you’re perfect exactly as you are.”

The blush across his face deepened in colour, his eyes flickering away from hers uncertainly. “I just don’t want to make a commitment to you that I can’t honor. And I certainly don’t want to deceive you about my intentions.”

With the slightest of smirks, she remarked, “Well, I like to think we’ve worked past the stage where you’re dishonest with me, Aloth. But as for the rest; I promise to make no demands of you, and if you make no demands of me… well, then we can just enjoy our time together, yes?”

“Yes.” He agreed, with a breathy chuckle. His eyes found hers once more, and she saw with great relief that most of the worry was now gone from his face, replaced instead by a smile as foolish as her own. “Yes, I like the sound of that.” 


End file.
